19 MARCH 2018

Arce Vs Rojas Ruled No Contest

By Sean Wippert ringside in Las Vegas: To say that multi-time champion Jorge “El Travieso” Arce is one of the more prolific fighters in the sport of boxing is an understatement. The 5’4” pugilist from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico had amassed a record of 60-6-2 with 46 knockouts and coming into his bout Saturdayt. He’s a 32 year old fighter who has made a name for himself taking on all contenders both far and wide since his pro debut at the tender age of 18.

Standing in his way was the always dangerous, hard hitting Puerto Rican Jesus Rojas. While his record of 18-1-1 with 13 knockouts may not be as massive in scale, he seemed to come into the fight with a sense that Arce may be a good fighter, but in the end he was just another fighter. He was also coming into the ring with his only major loss coming nearly three and a half years ago.

Arce came out firing on all cylinders, catching Rojas with a flash left hook that dropped Rojas in the opening moments of the fight. Rojas recovered, coming back with a vengeance and managing to even drive Arce backward a bit. The two then squared off with one another for the remainder of the round. As the round came to a close, both men looked to be in a full blown war.

The second round opened much in the same as the first with both men picking up where they left off. However a low blow at the 0:09 mark by Rojas bent Arce over in pain. This then led to a kidney shot and nasty left hook to the Arce’s left ear that sent him reeling into the corner. As referee Kenny Bayless called a temporary halt to the bout, Arce curled into the corner and seemed unable to get back up. The television translator relayed that Arce was stating that he was hearing some kind of ringing in his ear and that if he got up he was going to fall over.

Bayless then called the ring doctor in as well as a Nevada State Athletic Commission representative. Soon after the fight was called a no contest by Bayless as Arce could not get back up. After the fight Arce said he hated the way things ended but could do little as he said he “Just didn’t feel right.” He went on to say that he would gladly take Rojas on again right now since he was getting his feet back underneath him.

Rojas commented after the bout that the shots that ended the fight were unintentional and that he would gladly fight again if given another shot against Arce. In the end it’s an unfortunate end to a fight that had the makings of becoming the fight of the night and possibly a lot more. Hopefully in the near future we will get to see these two greats going at it again.

In the world of junior featherweights, few active fighters have accrued quite the boxing prestige as Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux. The Cuban phenom has an alleged 400 amateur wins to go along with a pair of Olympic gold medals in addition to six others in various amateur championships. In his short time in the professional ranks, Rigondeaux had accumulated 9 wins with 7 by knockout. Standing across from him and challenging for the title was Philadelphia’s own Teon Kenedy.

Coming into this bout, Teon Kennedy had seen the canvas a total of once in 20 fights. Within the first few minutes of the fight this immediately changed as a lethally fast left from Rigondeaux. The shot seemed hard enough to grab Kennedy’s attention as he returned to his feet but looked unable to get anything going through the rest of the round.

The second round saw Kennedy hitting the floor two more times from a straight left and later from a wickedly fast left hook from Rigondeaux. Again the challenger got back to his feet, but seemed to have little in the way of an answer for Rigondeaux. This lack of solutions would continue as in the fourth round a straight left hook from Rigondeaux found its mark, flooring him yet again.

The final straw for referee Russell Mora was when Rigondeaux yet again connected with a blisteringly fast left that dropped Kennedy at the 1:10 mark of the fifth round. It seemed to be a well deserved, albeit a bit overdue, stoppage to fight that was becoming painfully lopsided in favor of the champion Rigondeaux. With the win, Rigondeaux retains his WBA Junior Featherweight and improves to 10-0 with now 8 knockouts. The tough loss awards Kennedy only his second professional defeat, sending him to 17-2-2 with 7 knockouts.

In super featherweight action, up and coming Philippine fighter Ernie Sanchez took on Dominican warrior Wilton “Pretty Warrior” Hilario. From the opening bell it was Sanchez on the attack. The tough fighter from General Santos City seemed to make Hilario’s mid-section his primary target, pressured Hilario and trying to cut off the ring as many times as he could.

Hilario returned the favor with good shots that at times backed up his overly aggressive opponent. This trend continued through the next few rounds with both men seeming to exchange almost at will with one another. The sight was electrifying at times and made for a very entertaining bout.

As the middle rounds began to tick away it was Sanchez that turned up the pressure on his opponent, lobbing shot after shot to the body of Hilario. The Dominican returned fire, nearly taking Sanchez off his feet a few times. The two men continued exchanging shot after shot until the closing bell when Sanchez came very close to ending Hilario’s night before it went to the scorecards.

When the final scores were read it was 78-74, 78-74 and 79-73, all in favor Ernie Sanchez who now improves to 13-3 with 5 knockouts. With the tough loss Hilario falls to 12-3 with 9 knockouts